1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heatsink assembly for electronic components, and more particularly, to a heatsink assembly having a simple structure for coupling a heatsink and a heat source, i.e., an integrated circuit (IC) chip or an electronic package.
2. Related Art
Modern electronic appliances such as computer systems have not only microprocessor chips, but also many hundreds of integrated circuits (ICs) and other electronic components, most of which are mounted on printed circuit boards (PCBs). Many of these components generate heat during normal operation. Components that have a relatively small number of functions relative to their size, as, for example, small scale integrated circuits (ICs), usually dissipate all their heat. However, as these components become smaller and smaller to the extent that thousands are now combined into a single integrated circuit (IC) chip or an electronic package, and operate faster and faster to provide the computing power that is increasingly required, the amount of heat which the components dissipated increasingly require the assistance of external cooling devices such as heatsinks.
Heatsinks are typically passive devices that are thermally coupled to a heat source, i.e., an integrated circuit (IC) chip or an electronic package such as a microprocessor to absorb heat from the electronic components. Generally, a heatsink is mounted on a heat source to absorb and dissipate heat generated therein. Efforts have been made to increase a contact area between the heatsink and a working fluid, and process a plurality of micro-sized fluid channels in the heatsink for enhancing the cooling efficiency of the IC chip or the electronic package. As a result, aA heatsink assembly which can efficiently transfer heat generated from the electronic chip to the heatsink and prevent separation of the electronic chip and the heatsink is required.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional heatsink assembly, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,466,443, for cooling a central processing unit (CPU) mounted on a substrate, via a heatsink fastener with pivotable securing means. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional heatsink assembly includes a substrate 1 on which a CPU 10 is mounted, a heatsink 30, and a retention module 20 and a pressing frame 50 which are used for installing a cooling fan 40. The heatsink 30 is attached to a surface of the CPU 10 to absorb heat transferred from the CPU 10, and the cooling fan 40 is installed on the heatsink 30 to dissipate the heat from the heatsink 30.
The retention module 20 is coupled to the substrate 1, and the heatsink 30 is disposed on the surface of the CPU 10. The pressing frame 50 is coupled to the retention module 20 to fix the heatsink 30 and the cooling fan 40, such that the heatsink 30 is secured to the surface of the CPU 10.
As shown in FIG. 1, the heatsink assembly includes the heatsink 30 and the cooling fan 40 stacked on the surface of the CPU 10, such that heat generated by the CPU 10 and transferred to the heatsink 30 is dissipated due to forced convection caused by the cooling fan 40. Since the heat transfer efficiency depends on the intensity of contact between the CPU 10 and the heatsink 30, the CPU 10 and the heatsink 30 should be tightly secured to each other using the retention module 20 and the pressing frame 50.
However, the conventional heatsink assembly, as shown in FIG. 1, has a problem in that the retention module 20 and the pressing frame 50 are additionally required to install the cooling fan 40 on the heatsink 30, thereby increasing the number of components, manufacturing costs, and reducing the possibility of miniaturizing the heatsink assembly.